Does this build-up occur because you don’t properly strip the pot of the remnants of any previous pasta boil? Or are you boiling with “too little” water? Either way, the answer doesn't matter – Cebula says you should be happy to see the starch residue as a sign that you are doing something right.

Photo: Hector Manuel Sanchez

“It might not sound like common practice, but covering your pasta with just enough water for it to be submerged is a good thing for your pasta sauce later,” Cebula says. The more starch in your pasta water, the better, he says, because this by-product will help you bind your chosen sauce to the noodle itself. An added bonus is the silky sauce texture that can only be achieved by utilizing the starch-laden water.

While it might go against everything you’ve ever heard, covering the pasta with just enough water for it to be submerged will do the trick for making sure you have enough starch. This doesn't mean that your noodles will stick together as long as you continue to stir the pot during cooking time.

Chefs are using this technique more and more, and will ladle a few tablespoons of this starch water into a separate pan with the sauce after cooking the noodles themselves. Cebula goes as far to recommend that you save leftover pasta water and freeze them into cubes to later be used in soups, stews, risotto, or even gravy.

Reddit mystery solved, I'm not doing anything wrong, it’s harmless, and you should do your best to save every drop of the substance that you can. Go figure.